Remember that one day when you could wake up without an alarm? When you would get your favorite bowl of cereal and sit between the hours of 8 and 12? This is a blog dedicated to the greatest time of our childhood: Saturday mornings. The television programs you watched, the memories attached to them, and maybe introducing you to something you didn't realize existed. Updated every weekend.

The Hundred Acre Wood is the place
that young Christopher Robin would frequent to visit his closest friends.
Although, they weren’t your typical friends being that many of them were
stuffed. And animals. Chief amongst them was the slow-witted and friendly
Winnie the Pooh; a bear whose chief love was all things honey. With him came
Piglet, a small neat-freak pig who found a reason to be afraid of anything
(particularly Heffalumps, creatures that resembled elephants); Tigger, an
energetic tiger that loved to bounce and go on adventures; Kanga, a kangaroo
always in the company of her little joey, Roo; Eeyore, a constantly depressed,
hard-luck donkey that constantly lost his tail; Rabbit, a real rabbit obsessed
with order and keeping crows out of his garden; and Owl, a real owl whose
species made him the de-facto wisest of the group (even if he really wasn't).

The original toys, sans Roo who had long since been lost.

This group of friends came from the
imagination of author A.A.
Milne, who was inspired by his son, Christopher Robin,
and his toys, as well as the animals that lived in the forest around his
country home in Ashdown Forest, Sussex, England. Christopher Robin had become
enamored with a bear at the London
Zoo named Winnipeg;
a transplant from Canada that was rescued by Lieutenant Harry Coleburn
and donated to the zoo after WWI. Coleburn named the bear after his adopted
home of Winnipeg. The young Milne spent a lot of time with Winnie, going so far
as to hang out inside the cage. Eventually, his favorite stuffed bear, Edward,
was renamed “Winnie the Pooh” after the bear and a swan they once encountered.

The original books.

Pooh made his literary debut in the
poem “Teddy Bear”, published in the February 13, 1924 edition of Punch. However,
he would go unnamed until a story commissioned by the London newspaper The
Evening Newswas published on December 24, 1925. In 1926, Milne and Pooh
made the leap to book form in Winnie
the Pooh. Published by Methuen &
Co., Ltd. with illustrations by E.H. Shepard, Winnie the Pooh adapted previously
published stories with new content and introduced most of his supporting cast,
also based on the rest of Milne's son’s stuffed animals, as well as the
characterization of Christopher Robin. Tigger wouldn’t be introduced until the
1928 sequel, The
House at Pooh Corner.

Winnie the Pooh board game produced by Slesinger.

Based on the popularity of the
original stories and the books, Stephen Slesinger
purchased the North American rights to produce merchandise and media based on
the characters in 1930. Slesinger managed to turn Pooh and his friends into a
$50 million-a-year industry, overseeing the production of toys, records,
animation and films under his banner, Telecomics Presents. Slesinger also gave
Pooh his distinctive red t-shirt in a drawing he did for the cover of the 1932
RCA Victor picture record. It was also the first time the characters
appeared in color.

Walt Disney and his daughters.

Amongst Pooh’s fans were Diane and Sharon Mae Disney,
the daughters of Walt
Disney. Disney actively pursued the rights to the characters and eventually
acquired certain ones from Slesinger and Milne’s widows Shirley and
Daphne in 1961. Disney planned to adapt the characters into a full-length
animated musical feature, but upon realizing that worldwide audiences may not
be as familiar with the source material as the British, he decided to split the
feature up into a series of theatrical shorts in order to better introduce the
characters.

Promotional artwork for The Honey Tree.

The first, Winnie the Pooh
and the Honey Tree, adapted the first three chapters of Winnie the Pooh. It starred Sterling Holloway as Pooh, Junius Matthews as Rabbit, Hal
Smith as Owl, Ralph Wright as
Eeyore, Barbara Luddy as
Kanga, Clint Howard as Roo,
and Bruce Reitherman as
Christopher Robin. Although promotional art featured Piglet and Tigger
(resembling the Shepard design), neither appeared in the short. Rather, Disney
contemplated replacing Piglet entirely and introduced a new character: Gopher (Howard Morris). Gopher, based on
the beaver from Lady and the Tramp, constantly
dug holes and tunnels around the Wood and often spoke with a whistle. Honey Tree was released on February 4,
1966 and was shown alongside The Ugly Dachshund. The short proved popular, and began the path
that would lead to Pooh and his friends becoming a billion-dollar industry for Disney. It
would be the only one of the shorts produced during Disney’s lifetime as he
died that December.

The second short, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day debuted on December 20, 1968
alongside The Horse in the Gray Flannel
Suit. The short introduced Piglet (John Fiedler) and Tigger (Paul
Winchell), as well as replaced Reitherman with Jon Walmsley as Christopher
Robin. A third short, Winnie the Pooh and
Tigger Too, was released in 1974 before Pooh and friends received their
first full-length movie, The Many Adventures of
Winnie the Pooh. The film, released on March 11, 1977, combined the
three shorts with new material to bridge them and a new sequence to fill the
running time based on the final chapter of Pooh
Corner. An 8-minute educational film, Winnie the Pooh Discovers
the Seasons, was also made in 1981 with one last short, Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore,
released in 1983.

1983 saw the launch of The Disney Channel, and amongst the
channel’s initial line-up was the series Welcome
to Pooh Corner. The show featured actors in animatronic suits, created in
part by Ken Forsse who
would go on to create Teddy
Ruxpin, acting against blue screen sets as a narrator read from a book in
the opening and closing scenes. The show ran for three years, ending in 1986
after 120 episodes. Pooh’s absence from The Disney Channel was short-lived as Walt Disney Television Animation
returned him to animation with his second series: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

New characters not seen in the earlier
shorts included Stan Woozle (Sansom) and Heff Heffalump (Chuck McCann), two recurring villains
who always sought to steal from the main characters; Kessie (Laura Mooney), a little bluebird
Rabbit rescued and adopted as his daughter; and Christopher Robin’s mother
(Parris), whose face was never shown. Frank Welker would provide the
voices for a variety of animal characters in several episodes, including bees
and rats. During the second season, New
Adventures was paired up with Disney’s
Adventures of the Gummi Bearswhen it moved from NBC to form the Gummi
Bears-Winnie the Pooh Hour. By the third season, Winchell decided to
leave the show. He was replaced by Cummings, who had filled in for him
periodically during the first two seasons.

New Adventures continued
to air on ABC until 1993, where it went to The Disney Channel and remained
there until 2006. It did return to ABC in 1995 where it would stay until 2002.
The show was also seen on Playhouse Disney, Toon Disney and Disney Junior. It was also seen on international versions of The
Disney Afternoon programming block. During its run, New
Adventures won the Emmy
Award for Outstanding Animation Program in
both 1989 and 1990 (where it tied with Beetlejuice).

“Pooh
Oughta Be in Pictures” (1/17/88) – After seeing a scary movie, the gang tries
to convince Piglet that the monsters in it aren’t real.

“Friend,
in Deed / Donkey for a Day” (1/24/88) – Pooh and his friends try to get honey
from a beehive in order to pay back Rabbit for all the honey Pooh’s taken from
him. / Piglet convinces the other to spend the day cheering up Eeyore.

“There’s
No Camp Like Home / Balloonatics” (1/31/88) – Campfire scary stories leads
Piglet to come face-to-face with is greatest fear: Heffalumps. / The gang
panics when the balloon he borrowed from Christopher Robin gets deflated by
Rabbit.

“The
Piglet Who Would Be King” (2/14/88) – When Pooh gives Piglet a gift, Piglet
heads out to find the Land of Milk and Honey to get some honey in
reciprocation.

“Cleanliness
is Next to Impossible” (2/21/88) – Helping Christopher Robin clean his room
leads the gang to encounter the evil Crud and Smudge/.

“The Great Honey Pot Robbery” (2/28/88) – A
Heffalump and a Woozle have stolen all the honey in the Hundred-Acre Wood.

“Stripes
/ Monkey See, Monkey Do Better” (3/6/88) – Rabbit forces Tigger to take a bath,
resulting in his stripes being washed off. / The gang becomes upset when
Christopher Robin’s new toy declares himself the best toy ever.

“Babysitter
Blues” (3/13/88) – Christopher Robin and the gang get into mischief while being
watched by a babysitter.

“How
Much is That Rabbit in the Window?” (3/20/88) – Rabbit runs away and ends up
picked up by a junk dealer who tries to sell him.

“Nothing
But the Tooth / Gone With the Wind” (3/27/88) – When pack rats steal Pooh’s
sweet tooth, he believes he can no longer enjoy honey. / Piglet becomes afraid
of going outside since he’s light enough to be blown about by the wind.

“Paw
and Order” (4/3/88) – The gang puts on a play that takes place in the Wild
West.

“Honey
for a Bunny / Trap as Trap Can” (4/10/88) – A bookend Rabbit throws away finds
its way into everyone’s possession. / Pooh and Piglet help a young heffalump
learn how to trap.

“The
Masked Offender / Things That Go Piglet in the Night” (11/12/88) – Tigger
becomes a superhero to help people, but ends up causing problems. / The gang
believes they’re being haunted by a ghost.

“Lights
Out / Tigger’s Shoes” (2/4/89) – Rabbit borrows Gopher’s flashlight without
asking and he looks for it in a panic. / To keep Tigger busy, Rabbit gives him
weighted shoes and challenges him to jump the highest rock.

“The
‘New’ Eeyore / Tigger, Private Ear” (2/25/89) – Eeyore dresses like Tigger to
be more popular. / Tigger causes crimes so that he can solve them like a
detective.

“Party
Poohper / The Old Switcheroo” (3/4/89) – Pooh is enlisted to keep Rabbit’s
parents busy while he plans a surprise party. / Too avoid a bath, Roo has
Piglet take his place.

Season 2:

“Me
and My Shadow / To Catch a Hiccup” (9/9/89) – Piglet brings home a new shadow
friend. / The gang helps Piglet try to cure his hiccups.

“Rabbit
Marks the Spot / Good-bye, Mr. Pooh” (9/16/89) – Rabbit creates a treasure map
to keep the gang out of his garden as they play pirate. / Tigger spreads a
rumor that Pooh is leaving and the gang throws him a going away party.

“No
Rabbit’s a Fortress / The Monster Frankenpooh” (10/14/89) – Rabbit builds a
fortress to protect his garden. / On a dark and stormy night, Tigger spins a
yarn about mad scientist Piglet and his monster.

“Where
Oh Where Has My Piglet Gone? / Up, Up and Awry” (10/21/89) – Pooh believes he
misplaced Piglet and searches for him. / The gang arrests Pooh for breaking the
law of gravity when he tries to fly.

“Eeyore’s
Tail Tale / Three Little Piglets” (10/28/89) – Eeyore abandons his tail but
soon wants it back. / Pooh relates the story of the three little pigs.

“Prize
Piglet / Fast Friends” (11/18/89) – The gang holds a race for a trophy. /
Piglet gets stuck in the tree house while Gopher tries to help Pooh become more
punctual.

“Pooh
Moon / Caws and Effect” (12/2/89) – Tigger tells the gang a story about the
“Grabme-Gotcha.” / The crows trick Rabbit into leaving dim-witted Pooh to watch
over his garden while he and the others hunt for them.

Season 3:

“Oh,
Bottle / Owl in the Family” (8/18/90) – The pack rats steal the treasure map in
a bottle Christopher Robin created for their game. / Pooh and Piglet organize a
family reunion for Owl.

“Sham
Pooh / Rock-a-Bye Pooh Bear” (8/25/90) – Pooh losing his appetite causes
everyone to believe everyone else is an imposter. / Piglet has a nightmare
about losing his friends in a storm.

“What’s
the Score, Pooh? / Tigger’s Houseguest” (9/1/90) – Gopher will only rejoin
their game if the others help him work. / Tigger befriends a termite that has
been destroying things in the Wood.

“Rabbit
Takes a Holiday / Eeyi Eeyi Eeyore” (9/8/90) – All his chores done, Rabbit
takes a vacation and leaves the others to watch over his place. / Trying to
make Eeyore feel good about a seed he planted leads Rabbit to believe he’s the
better gardener and give Eeyore his property.

“Pooh
Skies” (10/6/90) – A fallen eggshell leaves the gang to believe the sky is
falling.

“April
Pooh / To Bee or Not to Bee” (10/13/90) – Christopher Robin sets the gang to
search for the April Fool. /

“Tigger
is the Mother of Invention / The Bug Stops Here” (10/27/90) – Tigger’s
inventions cause troubles for his friends. / The gang checks out Christopher
Robin’s science project and end up losing the bug that is part of it.

“Easy
Come, Easy Gopher / Invasion of the Pooh Snatcher” (11/3/90) – Rabbit becomes
annoyed when his house ends up part of Gopher’s ultimate tunnel. / Piglet asks
Pooh to help defend his house against Jagulars, which leads Tigger to believe
Pooh has been snatched by one.

“Tigger
Got Your Tongue? / A Bird in the Hand” (11/10/90) – The gang tries to help find
who stole Tigger’s voice. / An adult Kessie returns for a visit, but Rabbit has
a hard time seeing her as anything but a baby.

“Grown,
But Not Forgotten” (9/14/91) – The gang becomes worried that Christopher Robin
will grow up and forget all about them.

“A
Pooh Day Afternoon” (9/21/91) – The gang looks after a dog.

“The
Good, the Bad and the Tigger” (9/28/91) – Losing control of Christopher Robin’s
toy train has Tigger and Pooh put on trial as train robbers.

“Home
Is Where the Home Is” (10/5/91) – The gang takes turns putting up Christopher
Robin after he runs away from home because he accidentally broke a statue.

“Shovel,
Shovel, Toil and Trouble / The Wise Have It” (10/12/91) – A large shovel puts
Gopher on an uncontrollable home improvement kick. / The number of candles on
Pooh’s birthday cake makes the gang believe he’s old and, therefore, wise.

“Cloud,
Cloud Go Away / To Dream the Impossible Scheme” (10/19/91) – Tigger befriends a
very sad cloud. / A visit from his Grandpappy inspires Gopher to finish his
Grandpappy’s dream of an above-ground underground city.

“Piglet’s
Poohetry / Owl’s Well That Ends Well” (10/26/91) – Tigger disrupts Piglet’s
poetry. / Rabbit finds Owl’s singing horrible, but is torn when it keeps the
crows out of his garden.

Specials:

“Winnie
the Pooh and Christmas Too” (12/14/91) – Christopher Robin sends off a letter
to Santa with the gang’s desires, but soon they become greedy and keep asking
for more.

“Boo
To You! Winnie the Pooh” (10/25/96) – Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore search for Piglet
after he runs off in fright, but their own fears begin to get the best of them.

“A
Wnnie the Pooh Thanksgiving” (11/22/98) – The gang learns about the true
meaning of Thanksgiving.

“A
Valentine For You” (2/13/99) – When Owl explains to the gang that Christopher
Robin is smitten by a girl, the gang decides to find another smitten to cure
him.

“A
Very Merry Pooh Year” (11/12/02) – It’s time for the holidays and the usual
chaos abounds in the Wood, along with Pooh forgetting where he hid Piglet’s
present.